Province of Pennsylvania

The Province of Pennsylvania was an English colony in North America that existed from 1681 to 1783, with Philadelphia serving as its capital. In 1681, to rid England of its troublesome Quakers, King Charles II of England made William Penn the proprietor of 45,000 square miles in the Middle Colonies of the Thirteen Colonies, and, between 1682 and 1685, 8,000 Quaker artisans, farmers, and laborers immigrated to the new colony. It was named after William Penn, with "Pennsylvania" meaning "Penn's Woods". Quaker missionaries also encouraged European immigration, giving Pennsylvania greater ethnic diversity than any colony except for New York. The Quaker colony prospered, and its capital, Philadelphia (meaning "City of Brotherly Love") soon rivalled New York City as a center of commerce. Penn also sought to treat the Native Americans fairly, insisting on land purchases and fair negotiations. Penn also saw to it that Pennsylvania was a center of religious freedom, tolerating Protestant sects of all types as well as Catholicism. Despite its toleration and diversity, Pennsylvania was as much a Quaker colony as New England was a Puritan one. The proprietary colony's charter was in the hands of the Penn family until 1776, when the state rebelled against royal authority and joined the new United States.